a certain

phrase

1

—used to refer to a quality that is noticed but that is difficult to explain or describe

She has a certain elegance about her.

The house has a certain charm.

2

formal

—used with the name of a person one does not know

In 1889, a certain Mr. Kelly made a large donation to the church.

Examples of a certain in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Up to a certain load, the structure’s form wasn’t dictated by the concrete but by the physical limitations of the printer. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 17 July 2026

There was a certain amount of skepticism baked into the ceasefire to begin with. — Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 17 July 2026

These two characters have maybe two minutes of screentime between them, and yet a certain portion of the internet, and Elon Musk, have raged, gnashed teeth and howled to the wind about the way this denigrates a Greek classic. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026

There are trade-offs, of course—there will doubtless be a certain number of people who like Pritzker but can’t abide Ocasio-Cortez, and vice versa. — Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 16 July 2026

Rhymes for a certain

• uncertain
• bertin
• curtain